Caught in an Elevator
by not breaking a pinkie promise
Summary: It's all in the title. House and Cuddy in an elevator. My first fanfic.


**My first fanfiction, hooray hooray. Wrote this a couple of weeks ago and putting this on just on because I just got my internet back. No new ideas or concepts but I like it at least. Please review, be kind but honest sil vous plait.**

**Disclaimer: Trust me, you don't want me to own them. I wouldn't share.**

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The end of another day, one more life saved. Time to go home then start it all again tomorrow. His elevator finally comes and House walks in and presses the button for his floor. He wills the doors to close faster but the elevator felt like being stubborn. When the doors were almost closed a hand stops it from shutting completely. Cuddy's hand. The door open back up and she hesitates when she sees who it was in the elevator. She walks in and reaches for her button but sees it was already pressed so she just let her hand drop to her side. After a few seconds the elevator shudders to a stop. Cuddy gives House a sideways glance.

"What?" he asks, "I didn't do anything. Unless you think I can reach out and stop this elevator with my mind power. Easy mistake, I suppose."

She let the remark pass and took to leaning up against a wall. After a few minutes she turns to House. He looks back at her.

"Don't you think you should call someone?" Cuddy asks impatiently. She would herself but she left her phone on her desk. She was exhausted and didn't want to spend any more time stuck in this elevator. Especially not with House.

After some muttering he pulls out his phone and dials a number.

"Hey Jimmy, the elevator's stuck and I'm caught in here with Cuddy," he says as soon as Wilson picks up.

"Huh. Is it now?"

"No. I'm lying so you'll be distracted and won't find us in her office doing it on her desk." he replies. Wilson really should know better by now.

Cuddy glares at him and snatches the phone away.

"Hello? Wilson? Can you get someone to work on this?" she asks him.

"Sure thing."

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

"No problem. Sorry you got stuck in there. With House."

She gives a small smile at that. "Not your fault. Bye," she says and hangs up. She turns to House. "Wilson is going to get someone on this."

"Good," House says, "Shouldn't take boy wonder oncologist too long. Unless he's one of those people who like to mess with other people's lives and tries get two people he thinks should be together, together. _Then_, it might take a while."

Cuddy blanches. " He wouldn't do that," she says, trying to reassure herself more than anything.

"Just keep the faith alive." House sighs and takes a seat on the floor. He leans his head against the wall and closes his eyes. He was tired and wanted to go home. This case took a lot out of him. A couple of minutes later, the lights go out.

"Just fantubulous," he says though he's not entirely sure he was being sarcastic. His phone rings but Cuddy still has it so she answers it.

"Hello?" she says.

"Yeah. Talked with someone from maintenance. Said it's going to take a few hours."

Cuddy closes her eyes. She can almost feel the massive headache coming on. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" he asks.

"Well, I mean, you wouldn't just say that to leave me trapped with House would you?"

"Oh God, no. No, I wouldn't do that to you."

He sounded innocent but Cuddy knows Wilson is a good actor. He's not as nice as everyone thinks he is.

"Alright. See you in a few hours I guess," she says and hangs up. She takes a seat next to House.

"So?" House asks after a moment.

"Says it'll be a few hours," she finally says.

"What'd he say about his plots of world togetherness?"

"He denied it."

"And you don't believe him." House says, amused.

"No, not really."

"Not as nice as he seems, huh?"

_Funny_, she thinks, _I was just thinking that._

"So how's your patient," Cuddy asks after a few minutes of silence.

"Cured her," House answers.

"That's good. You didn't even have to use some crazy, unethical treatment to cure her. How's that feel?" she asks.

"Cute," he answers then thinks about something for a minute. "What were you going up here for anyway?"

"Needed to talk to Wilson about some meeting. Nothing about you, sorry."

"Well now you've broken my heart," he says and shifts a little to get more comfortable. He really hopes his leg won't get stiff on him.

"What are we going to do now?" Cuddy asks.

"We could play eye-spy," he answers and hears her yawn beside him.

"No thanks."

"Fine then. How's the demon child?" he asks.

"Don't call her a demon. She's just like any other baby. She's fine and why do you care?" she asks.

"I don't. Just curious if she's stolen what little bit of soul you have left," he says.

"Didn't your mother teach to say nothing at all if you've got nothing nice to say?" she asks and yawns again. Tiredness is settling heavily on her.

"You know," House says after a pause, "if we're going to be stuck here for hours, and you won't except my game of eye-spy, you might as well get some sleep."

"What's with all caring all of the sudden?" she asks ignoring the part of her thinking that's a heavenly idea.

"No caring on my part. I just figure you'll be less annoying if your asleep."

"Thanks for the concern," Cuddy answers sarcastically. Though, secretly, she's pleased. She's pretty sure he does care and is just deflecting in his usual way.

"Hey you were the one who asked," he shot back.

"Well I'm not sure I can fall asleep with you right there."

House rolls his eyes which is lost to her in the darkness. "I'm not going to ravish you while you while you sleep. I can't even admire with the lights off and my phone dead."

"I'm a little cold too," she admits.

"Well here," he says. He shrugs off his jacket and hands it to her. Well, more to her shoulder since he can't really see her hand.

Cuddy raises an eyebrow. "Wow. I don't even know who you are anymore," she says and takes his jacket.

"Remember what I said about less annoying?" House says. "Want a good night kiss?"

"No thanks," she says but smiles and puts on his jacket. It feels good. Great, in fact. She's sure she'll have a peaceful sleep. Within a minute, she falls asleep.

She's asleep now. House lets out a breath. He's glad he got her to rest, she needs it. He likes just listening to her slow, steady breathing. He feels this sudden-no, not sudden, just more intense-desire to be next to her. He wants to feel her head on his chest.

He reaches out but stops. He's not sure he can, but, he has to try. He wraps an arm around Cuddy and pulls her close to him. She moves a little closer into his body, sighs, but doesn't waken. House smiles and hands himself over to the incoming sleep.

_I could get used to this_, is his last thought before he falls asleep.

Cuddy wakes up and is instantly aware of House's warm, earthy scent. She nuzzles in closer and breathes deeply. Pure bliss. After she pulls back and her head clears, she starts to think.

_God_, she thinks,_ what should I do? I'm snuggling into House! _She couldn't decide what to do. Should she wake him up and be angry? Grateful? She's not sure. She _is _sure she doesn't want this to end. She finally decides she should just try and go back sleep. But it's too late now. House is waking up.

"Hey," he says when he realizes Cuddy's awake too.

"Hey," she answers with a smile. "So, what's with…this?"

"You said you were cold," he offers simply.

"You know, you're really helpful today," she informs him.

Without any warning House leans over and kisses her. She's surprised at first but soon gets into it. They only break apart because of that stupid breathing thing.

"House," she breathes, "what-"

"You declined my offer of a good night kiss so I thought I'd give you a good morning kiss. Although techniquely it's still nighttime," he says.

She knew she wouldn't get anything else out of him so she just snuggles in closer.

"Why aren't we together?" House asks out of the blue.

Cuddy is thrown of track. "What? Where is this coming from? Do you want to be together?"

"I'm curious. Just want to know what's going on in that pretty little head of yours," he says.

She says nothing for a long time before starting. "Well…the hospital already thinks that I let you get away with way too much now. Us getting together can only make that worse. I have a child now, which complicates everything. There is a good chance we'd both end up miserable. I mean, we're both pretty messed up. Wilson would be unbelievably smug. And," she takes a deep breath, "I don't know whether you love or even like me."

House goes quiet for a while.

"Do you love me?" he asks quietly.

She thinks for a moment. "Yes," she says just a quietly. "Yes, I do love you House," she says more loudly and defensively as if daring him to make a joke about it.

"Then we have a problem," he finally says.

"Why?" she asks though she already knows the answer. She knows it's because he doesn't love her or at least doesn't love her enough. She still felt a shred of hope for some reason.

"Because…I think I love you too," he says matter-of-factly.

Cuddy's speechless for a second. "Do you really mean that? You're not just screwing with me?" she asks, afraid he might be.

He pulls her in for another sensual kiss and holds her close. When they pull apart he answers. "Yes, I really mean it."

She smiles and lays her head on his chest. "You're right," she says and is surprised when House doesn't say anything. She was sure he'd make some smart remark about how he's _always right. "We do have a problem. But maybe we can get rid of some of those reasons," she says._

"Hmm. Let's see. Well, half the hospital already thinks we're together so we'll just be confirming that. I don't really see how it can get worse," he says.

"What about the other half?" she asks.

"Actually, there's a betting pool on who I'm with. Wilson, I think is in the lead, with you close behind and Cameron is somewhere in there too."

"Wilson? That's…that's hot," she says.

"Shut up. Just, shut up," House growls.

"Okay, okay," she concedes, highly amused. "What about the other reasons?" she asks, serious again.

"Your child," he says slowly. "I wouldn't hurt her."

"I know that. It's just," she gives a frustrated sigh, "I not sure you'd be a good influence for her."

"Are you kidding? Someone has to make sure your kid isn't a total loser. Especially if she's hanging out around Wilson."

"House. I need to know what you're willing to do."

"I'll do my best," House says. He's not sure this is enough for her.

Cuddy nods. "That'll have to do. The next problem is just one we'll have to take a chance on," she says. "Okay, last one is the Wilson deal."

"Ugh. Not sure I can handle that. Smug Wilson is much more annoying than regular Wilson. That's a whole lot of annoying," House complains.

"I'm sure we could somehow work through it," she says.

"Is that all?"

"Yep. Since we cleared up the, you know…" Cuddy trails off.

"Yeah, that thing," House says and smiles against her neck. He pulls back, his face only a few inches away from hers. His hand is busy doodling on her back.

"So are we really going to do this?" Cuddy asks after a while.

"Do you really want to? Are you sure?" he asks. He's not entirely sure she really loves him. He knows he's not easy to love.

"Yes I'm sure. You?" Cuddy asks.

House doesn't answer for a pause. "Yes. Yes, I think I am," he finally says and is certain he is.

The lights choose that moment to turn back on.

"Looks like the elevators are working again," Cuddy says unnecessarily.

"Typical. It's Wilson's superpowers of manipulation. He must get extra because he has God or something," House says. They both feel the elevator starting to move and get up on their feet.

"You shouldn't mock your best friend," Cuddy says.

"Well I have to while I can enjoy it. You know how he'll be like when he finds out," he says with a grim look.

"Yeah, but it'll be worth it," she says with a grin.

He looks at her. "Yes. It will be," he agrees and pulls her into one last quick kiss before the doors slide open and they step out together.


End file.
